Shadowfax got some great Christmas presents this year. A new bed from Auntie Alma, some tasty new snacks from the Grandparents in North Dakota, and this festive new kerchief.
It looks pretty good on her, red is definitely her color. Thank you to all our awesome friends and family, Shadowfax felt well loved this year.
When it gets chilly here in Idaho, there's lots of ways to stay warm. Shadowfax has probably mastered them all over the years.
Shadowfax demonstrates the sunbeam on left side, space heater on the right side warming technique. This is a pretty advanced technique, not for newbies.
Shadowfax maximizes her cozy-laziness potential, the perfect way to spend the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She may not have a tummy full of tasty leftovers to digest, but she won't take any chances.
She's an impressive beast, sandwiched between a comfy dog bed and a blankie, with another dog bed folded in half for her pillow.
Last week was our 12 year anniversary with Shadowfax. We had to go way back through the blog archives to find our original announcement post from 2010 when we told the world "It's a Girl!"
These are the first few pictures we got of her when she was being fostered and the first pictures we posted of her here at the world famous Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes.
We've gotten some comments that all of the recently posted pictures of Shadowfax are of her napping or sleeping, or even snoozing. She does do stuff, but it's sometimes hard to capture her in all her majesty. Chasing after a squirrel in the backyard is tough to catch on camera.
When we had Shaak Ti we didn't give both of the dogs bones to chew on. The dogs would get weird and start resource guarding and being prickly towards each other, so we decided that we just wouldn't give them bones. Now that Shadowfax is an only dog we can give her things to chew on - bones, bully sticks, and other tasty items.
Chewing is a good low key way for her to release some energy, when she's too tired to play but not tired enough to nap. Chewing or licking is also a good soothing mechanism and keeps her relaxed.
Cold weather is upon us here in Boise, Idaho. Cold rain and snow overnight led to a lovely day of gentle snow flurries throughout the afternoon.
Shadowfax is prepared though. She's got her comfy bed and fluffy blankie from Chewy.
We spent a few days last week at the Oregon coast, our new favorite place. John had to work most of the time, but sitting at a computer with the ocean in the background isn't the worst office environment.
The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm most days with some tastes of fog and ocean breezes.
Shadowfax accompanied us and enjoyed early morning walks on the beach. Because she's reactive to other dogs, we had to walk early in the morning. But that's OK. There was a full moon and the we had the silvery, shimmering moonlit beach to ourselves at 5:00 am.
Alycia's friends came to visit too and spent the day hanging out with us. They doted on Shadowfax and gave her love the whole time.
Between the walks on the beach and all the extra attention, Shadowfax was exhausted by the time we got back home.
Shadowfax never fails to impress us with her majesty. Majestic, noble, the adjectives could go on forever. Or we could just let a picture do all the talking for us.
She's a majestic beast all right. Other dogs might like a fancy orthopedic dog bed, but Shadowfax? She's happy with a stuff sack filled with old t-shirts and washable duvet cover for a bed. Head squished against a nightstand, teeth showing, that's our delicate lady.
We had some family in town for the long weekend. My sister and her 3 kiddos, all boys under 12 years old. Even though they have dogs of their own, Shadowfax was a great attraction for them. We supervised carefully and explained what it meant that she was deaf. The boys were great with her and she enjoyed loving on them.
Shadowfax had kisses, hugs, fetch, tug-of-war, and more pets than she knew what to do with. Our house wasn't equipped for them to stay with us but they did visit for a few hours each day and Shadowfax had far more activity than she is accustomed to. Now that they've left, Shadowfax is exhausted, just completely done. I think it will be a quiet week around here as she spends a lot of time in bed napping.
Did you know that today is National Dog Day? I consulted with Shadowfax about the holiday and she mentioned that she had marked the occasion on her calendar.
She also had a series of naps on her calendar. We had a discussion about time management and not double booking things. Actually I just mentioned it to her as she snored away on her fluffy pillow.
We recently took a trip to Northern California and stayed at a The Gray Eagle Lodge for a few days. Shadowfax accompanied us and had a great time strolling around, sniffing, and lounging in the sunshine. The weather was lovely; warm and sunny with blue skies and no wildfire smoke. To top off the great weather we only counted 2 mosquitos and John only managed to get one mosquito bite.
The cabin we stayed in was a lovely little spot along a babbling creek. The picture above is our morning stroll just as the sun was coming up over the ridge.
We took a few short day trips to the town of Graeagle (yes that spelling is correct). There was a lovely park in the middle of town and Shadowfax enjoyed lounging in the shady grass.
There was also the scenic and (according to Shadowfax) lovely smelling Gold Lake, a huge state park that only had a few visitors. This was a vacation that we had planned for some time, and it gave us a much needed chance to get out of town and immerse ourselves in some nature.
Shaak Ti left us a few weeks ago. She was 16 years old and had been a part of our lives for 15 years. So much a part of our lives that the gaping hole her passing has left behind is impossible to escape. She's no longer watching us upside down from her dog bed or underfoot, demanding pets. No longer greeting us with enthusiastic "woo woo woos" when we come home. It's been a hard couple of weeks and life without her is too quiet.
There is so much more to say, so many happy memories, but this is all we can muster right now. Hug your pups, tell them you love them. Even if you are lucky enough to get 15 years with them, they still leave too soon.
We had to say goodbye to Shaak Ti the other day. It was a heart wrenching process. Her little body simply couldn't take it anymore and she was telling us it was time. She left this world in her favorite bed, covered with her favorite blanket, laying her head on my leg and surround by the two people she loved so fiercely.
Shadowfax is trying to fill the void, but it's such a monumental task. She is going to need to get acclimated to getting all of our attention.
We'll post a more comprehensive ode to Shaak Ti, this magical little beast who was so much a part of our lives. Right now everything is still too painful, and we are processing our grief.
We have had some interesting bird sightings around the homestead this Spring. There had been some cedar waxwings over the past weeks around the neighborhood. We'd watched them picking berries off various shrubs and trees on our afternoon dog walks.
Over the course of a few hours one morning though we got to see them up-close in large numbers. Cedar waxwings are a very striking bird with a dark eye mask and bright yellow tail feather tips.
For a few hours in the morning they rushed in, drank and splashed, and flew away. Only to return minutes later. It was quite a show and we refilled the bird bath several times.
No posts since Christmas? Yoinks! Things have gotten away from us a bit.
Hopefully some cute pictures of the dynamic duo will be the balm that soothes the ache of us briefly ghosting you.
We'll try to do better.
Spring is here and things are warming up. We'll transition from snuggling in front of the fireplace to basking in the sunshine.
